Abstract

Atomic force microscopy is employed to obtain images of the surface of GaSb epilayers grown on (001) GaAs using molecular beam epitaxy. The images reveal a surface that consists of micron size mounds that are approximately 4 nm high. A stepped surface is clearly observed on the mounds with a single step edge that originates from a screw dislocation at the center of the mound and moves out to the edge in a spiral fashion. The surface structure of the spiral mounds is observed to depend on the growth temperature of the GaSb epilayer, presumably as a result of a shorter diffusion length of the group III adatoms for lower substrate temperatures.